A port of Shantae
The original Shantae adventure returns! First released in 2002, Shantae is the classic action-adventure-platformer that introduced players to the fan-favorite Half-Genie heroine. In her debut title, Shantae hair-whips, dances, and transforms as she seeks out four elemental stones hidden throughout Sequin Land to put a stop to the nefarious lady pirate, Risky Boots. During her quest, she'll explore treacherous labyrinths, gain amazing new powers, conquer mini-games, and meet up with friends such as Bolo, Sky, and Rottytops! This version of the game includes both the standard Game Boy Color mode and the Game Boy Advance-enhanced mode!
Also in series
Reviews View More
I'll be talking about the Switch version of the game. I'm a big fan of the series. I've played every Shantae game that has been released so far along with their DLCs, so I was pretty excited to play the first game in the series. I ended up disappointed. World is too big, screen is too small, there's insta-deaths everywhere, and sometimes the NPCs will straight up lie to you about how to progress. This game is absolutely incredible on a technical level that it runs on the gameboy color, but I just didn't find it very fun to play. This is my least favorite game in the series.
Rough game. The whip range is lacking, transforming is slow and clunky, and trying to get anywhere is a chore thanks to the day/night cycle and terrible screen crunch. The dungeons are nice but most bosses are lame. On the bright side, the music is still great and the visuals were impressive for the GBC.
This game is so rough. Enemies will constantly pop out at you giving you no time to react, there are lives for whatever reason. Yeah, lives. In a Metroidvania. Puzzles that make me activley mad when figuring out the solution. And worst of all, it's prone to crashing. Normally, this wouldn't be a big deal. I could just play up to that point. It would be annoying but not memorable enough to put into a review, but I just can't do it. I don't want to play this game for longer than I need to, so I just won't play it at all.
While this game may be primitive compared to its later sequels, it has an air of mythology about it due to its unusually vibrant GBC graphics and comparative rarity. The Switch port may be merely a glorified emulation job, but this game's cuteness and ambition relative to its limitations earn it a few extra points.
You play as Shantae, the half-genie guardian of Scuttle Town. The dread pirate, Risky Boots, has just sailed into town and stolen the priceless Steam Engine and has plans to use it for evil! Shantae must track her down and stop her. Pretty straight forward.
Visuals
Originally being on the Game Boy Color, and later Game Boy Advance, Shantae is of course done in pixel art. I played the GBA Enhanced Edition, and did think it looked nice. It’s not the best looking pixel art game, but it holds up pretty well to modern games using the style.
Shantae is a super cute heroine. She’s wearing the typical harem pants and bra top with a high ponytail. She’s sexy without being overtly sexy. Same with Risky Boots, who actually looks like a paler Shantae in black rather than red.
The environments are quite varied as you move from town to town and even sub-area to sub-area. There’s even a day-night cycle, with nightime taking on a purple hue.
Sound Effects + Music
I wasn’t a fan of the music in Shantae. It’s not bad exactly, but it definitely sounds dated. Yes, it matches the old school graphics, but doesn’t hold the same charm. There’s also not much variation, so you’ll be hearing the same tunes for several hours.
The sound effects are equally not great. The main sound being this weird shriek when Shantae takes damage. Which is often.
Gameplay + Controls
It did take me awhile to settle into Shantae as it confused the heck out of me. I’ll admit that I needed to follow a guide pretty closely to get through it. While each area is mostly linear, there are multiple paths and a lot of backtracking. Essentially, it’s a Metroidvania, which I was not prepared for. I do wish there was a basic map, so I could at least orient myself a bit, but nope. And if you get lost, die repeatedly, and Game Over, you’re sent back to your last save. And save points are rare. Like, in the hub towns, not in the levels.
But despite several Game Overs and much frustration over repeating the same area over and over and over, I kept coming back to the game. I like Shantae as a character and didn’t want to give up on her! I want her to face Risky Boots and save her town! I just couldn’t play for long stretches because of said frustration.
The main controls are straightforward with the basic walk, run, attack, jump, and long jump. Shantae attacks by whipping her hair around. This is also how she can move and break objects. She can even do it when crouching, which is actually required for some enemies and objects. It’s a fun attack. She also jumps much higher and further than I expected, but at times she seemed to fall short. But her long jump is pretty good.
Shantae will also learn dances that transform her into animals with special abilities. I had to head to the internet to figure out how to dance properly (also on how to use items). I’d do it on accident, but couldn’t do it on purpose. The transformation dances are rhythm based, which makes perfect sense. I just didn’t know what the rhythm was. There is a music indicator on the UI, and you just have to hit the correct button when the stars light up. Practice.
While I definitely had fun playing Shantae, I have no idea how anyone can get through it without some hand holding. Like, how in the world are you suppose to know where to go, other than trial and error? How was I suppose to know to use the elephant to break stuff and unblock passages?! I just don’t freaking know.
Replayability
Shantae isn’t an overly long game as long as you don’t get lost, and it’s full of secrets, leaving it open to replays. But with all of the back-and-forth, I don’t think I’d play it again from the beginning. It’s probably easier to just keep running around in a finished game to grab the last things you may have missed.
Overall
I liked Shantae, mostly the character rather than the game. I know I’m not the best at video games, but this one seemed unnecessarily tough and confusing.
Visuals
Originally being on the Game Boy Color, and later Game Boy Advance, Shantae is of course done in pixel art. I played the GBA Enhanced Edition, and did think it looked nice. It’s not the best looking pixel art game, but it holds up pretty well to modern games using the style.
Shantae is a super cute heroine. She’s wearing the typical harem pants and bra top with a high ponytail. She’s sexy without being overtly sexy. Same with Risky Boots, who actually looks like a paler Shantae in black rather than red.
The environments are quite varied as you move from town to town and even sub-area to sub-area. There’s even a day-night cycle, with nightime taking on a purple hue.
Sound Effects + Music
I wasn’t a fan of the music in Shantae. It’s not bad exactly, but it definitely sounds dated. Yes, it matches the old school graphics, but doesn’t hold the same charm. There’s also not much variation, so you’ll be hearing the same tunes for several hours.
The sound effects are equally not great. The main sound being this weird shriek when Shantae takes damage. Which is often.
Gameplay + Controls
It did take me awhile to settle into Shantae as it confused the heck out of me. I’ll admit that I needed to follow a guide pretty closely to get through it. While each area is mostly linear, there are multiple paths and a lot of backtracking. Essentially, it’s a Metroidvania, which I was not prepared for. I do wish there was a basic map, so I could at least orient myself a bit, but nope. And if you get lost, die repeatedly, and Game Over, you’re sent back to your last save. And save points are rare. Like, in the hub towns, not in the levels.
But despite several Game Overs and much frustration over repeating the same area over and over and over, I kept coming back to the game. I like Shantae as a character and didn’t want to give up on her! I want her to face Risky Boots and save her town! I just couldn’t play for long stretches because of said frustration.
The main controls are straightforward with the basic walk, run, attack, jump, and long jump. Shantae attacks by whipping her hair around. This is also how she can move and break objects. She can even do it when crouching, which is actually required for some enemies and objects. It’s a fun attack. She also jumps much higher and further than I expected, but at times she seemed to fall short. But her long jump is pretty good.
Shantae will also learn dances that transform her into animals with special abilities. I had to head to the internet to figure out how to dance properly (also on how to use items). I’d do it on accident, but couldn’t do it on purpose. The transformation dances are rhythm based, which makes perfect sense. I just didn’t know what the rhythm was. There is a music indicator on the UI, and you just have to hit the correct button when the stars light up. Practice.
While I definitely had fun playing Shantae, I have no idea how anyone can get through it without some hand holding. Like, how in the world are you suppose to know where to go, other than trial and error? How was I suppose to know to use the elephant to break stuff and unblock passages?! I just don’t freaking know.
Replayability
Shantae isn’t an overly long game as long as you don’t get lost, and it’s full of secrets, leaving it open to replays. But with all of the back-and-forth, I don’t think I’d play it again from the beginning. It’s probably easier to just keep running around in a finished game to grab the last things you may have missed.
Overall
I liked Shantae, mostly the character rather than the game. I know I’m not the best at video games, but this one seemed unnecessarily tough and confusing.